A Need for Normality
by Alli-dunno
Summary: It's a tough job, saving the world from the clutches of evil. Our favorite hero takes a break from his work, but finds it difficult to relax when the harsh truth gets in the way of the only normality he has ever had.


A/n: Uh, here I am, returning to with a one-shot that just seems to have written itself, basically

**A/n: **Uh, here I am, returning to with a one-shot that just seems to have written itself, basically. There's not a whole lot to say, so uh, enjoy? Just have fun with some Malon and Link goodness that I just so seem to enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** Uh, I don't own stuff. So, uh…don't sue me.

That was easily the longest period of time that I ever had to endure. I swear seven years locked in the Sacred Realm wasn't as long. At least I was asleep. I like sleep. I don't like spending Goddess-only-knows how long traversing the underwater depths, fighting monsters _underwater_ with only a hookshot seeing as how nothing else can work down there, and playing the same song a bazillion times (seriously, if I hear that song again I will plunge myself off of the nearest cliff).

Now I understand why the Zoras put this temple underwater: to keep people like me out…who like land and don't like water. Granted I had been complaining about this the minute I had ended my meeting with Ruto and had finished listening to Sheik sit there and tell me his usual cryptic whatnot. That was only about three minutes ago, but I had managed a reasonable amount of complaining in that time span.

"Will you stop whining already?" Navi said, floating around me. I had sprawled myself out on the ground, on that little island thing with the tree above the Water Temple. I was barely moving, just lying there like a corpse.

"No, I will not." I responded snappily, taking a glance the fairy. "I didn't sign up for this hero-gig only so I could fight giant, purple tentacles you know."

"That's not weirder than Ganon's phantom or a giant fire-breathing dragon, why?"

"Those are normal, well, sort of." I stopped for a moment. "Okay, let me reword that, they aren't giant tentacles! Giant tentacles who wrap around me and fling me across a room _lined with spikes._"

"Well, Phantom Ganon popped out of paintings on a phantom horse and shot balls of magic at you. And Volvagia flew around and shot fire at you and screeched so loudly that pieces of ceiling nearly crushed you."

"Okay, whatever, you made your point."

"Good, now will you shut up about it?"

"No." I protested. "Whatever. What now, oh great leader?"

"I'm not the leader. I'm merely here to tell how monsters want to kill you and remind that you actually have a goal to accomplish." Navi said simply, floating over to my shoulder and plopping herself down. I groaned rather loudly and stood up, looking around the lake.

"I'm tired and hungry." I thought aloud. "What do I do in a situation like this?"

"Get some rest and eat?" Navi asked curiously.

"Partly." I held up a finger before grabbing my pack off the ground and swinging it around my shoulder. "We go and bum food and shelter off of Malon."

"You're going to bum off of her again?" Navi seemed disappointed. "Don't you think she's getting annoyed by that?"

"She doesn't ever leave the ranch and has no other friends her age besides me." I sighed. "Besides, she's closer than Kakariko."

"Oh, traveling on a horse takes so much effort." Navi huffed.

"Are fairies supposed to be sarcastic?"

"Are heroes supposed to be whiny?"

I ignored Navi and rolled my eyes, finally over the bridges. I looked down and opened my pack. _Okay, where is that thing?_ _Um…no…that's not it, that's not it, that's definitely not it…Oh, damn, what __**is**__that? Eew…Oh, wait, that's that smell! Nifty, I found where that came from…Oh, yes! _A slight feeling of triumph came over me as I pulled out the delicate, blue ocarina from my bag.

"What is that?" Navi looked down.

"Uh…I'm not sure, but at least we know what the smell is now." I said, shutting the flap of my bag and bringing the ocarina to my lips. After a quick song, Epona was running up out of seemingly nowhere. How she actually managed to do that, I'm not sure. Apparently, Epona's a super-horse or something.

"Okay, girl, ready?" I hopped onto Epona, who let out a snorting noise that was somewhat hard to make out.

_No, I'm not. I came here to stand and look pretty._

"Right, whatever, you can't talk." I scratched my chin and decided it wasn't worth trying to figure out why I talked to my horse. Instead, I just set Epona off, jumping over a few fences before we were well on our way to the ranch.

It was always a nice break to see Malon. The ranch was such a break from hero-work. Whenever I went there, it was as if there wasn't as if I were merely taking a breather from saving the world from evil. It just seemed like I was meant to be there, to hang out with Malon. It almost seemed natural. My trips there were my vacations, but they meant a lot to me, more than I let on to Navi, anyway.

Malon had surprisingly become one of my closest friends. I never thought it would come to that seeing as how when I first met her I thought she was overly perky and kind of freaky. We were opposite even when we were kids. My first trip to the ranch was an experience in itself. Her dad asked me to marry her, Ingo looked like he wanted to commit mass homicide or something, and Malon looked all fairytale princess-like in her corral of horses, singing happily like her father wasn't trying to marry her off to a freak in a green tunic or that her ranch hand was insane.

But that's Malon for you, temper aside. (Her temper is the scariest thing since Ganondorf, let me tell you.)

"Link…Link!" I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to Navi who was standing on my shoulder, yelling in my ear.

"What?" I craned my neck to look down at her.

"We're here." Navi pointed.

"Oh...well…I knew that." I mumbled. Epona neighed.

_Yeah, sure you did, buddy._

"Okay, if I were a happy farm girl, where would I be?" I talked to myself, trotting Epona past the barn and house. Epona just neighed some more.

_Do you realize talking to yourself sounds stupid? _

I stopped Epona, hearing a snort of protest. Beyond that, I heard light singing from the inside of the house. Looking up, I noticed the windows opened, and judging from the prettiness of the tune, it most definitely had to be Malon. That, I think, was the window to her bedroom.

"Malon!!" I screamed loudly up at the window. There was a crashing sound and a screech at the crashing. Suddenly, the curtains of the window where ripped aside, and Malon threw her head out the window, looking around before locking eyes with me. I seemed have caught off guard though, seeing as how her hair was pulled to one side and she only had a white, sleeveless under shirt on, the strap of one falling limply over her arm.

"Link!!" Malon screamed, a hint of annoyance on her voice. "Do you realize you surprised me and caused me to knock over a bunch of crap?"

"Well, no, but I guess that was kind of my goal…to, you know, scare you." I laughed at her disheveled figure and at the frown forming on her face.

"Do you want food?" Malon's frown curved into a smirk. "Then don't ever do that again!" Before I had a chance to do anything else, a book came flying out the window, smacking me right in the forehead, causing me to lose my balance and tumble off of Epona, hanging on to the side of the saddle for support. Epona neighed again.

_That was smooth. _

"Ow…What the hell, Malon?" I screamed back up, regaining my wits. I reached out and grabbed the book. _Go figure, what's this, a romance novel? _I read the back of the book. _Sounds kind of…uh...kinky? Where'd she borrow this…Ruto?_

"You better give me my book back, too." Malon wasn't at the window anymore. "Come on in if you want food, though."

"Cool, I'm allowed in now." I parked Epona near the open window of the first floor, where the dining room and kitchen were. Navi's blue aura just blinked a bit, seemingly annoyed. "Oh, get over yourself Navi."

"Yeah, whatever." Navi responded. I walked into the house, empty oddly enough. Ingo and Talon probably went to deliver milk to Kakariko or something. Strolling over the table, I dropped my pack down (still smelly) and put Malon's weirdo romance novel in the middle of the table.

"Okay, do you ever come for anything other that to bum food off of me and scare the crap out of me?" Malon was fully dressed in her usual ensemble, the white shirt, pink skirt, boots, bandana, etc. She walked over the stove and began messing with things, pulling out some cucco meat from an icebox and pulling out ingredients with a ninja's speed.

"Well, obviously it must not be much of a problem if you're complying and making food for me." I said, leaning my elbow on the table. Epona neighed again.

_She's probably just shutting you up._

"So, uh…" Malon just let out a light sigh, and then turned her head to me. "What did you go through this time around? You told me about the other two temples…but what was the water one like?"

I had been entertaining Malon with my adventure stories since I first came to the ranch. She was always fascinated with the strange puzzles and freaky monsters I had to fight in order to accomplish my goal. It wasn't like she had a hard time believing what I was saying. But she seemed to just simply enjoy my adventures.

"Uh…I had to fight a giant, goopy tentacle and fight clam-things with a hookshot, which is, mind you, on small feat." I explained.

"…" Malon laughed a bit. "Well, what made you come here afterwards then?"

"Uh, well, I complained for a few minutes and then decided I was hungry. So, the first thought that came to my mind was 'hey, let's bum food and shelter off of Malon!' And so I decided to come here. You were closer than Kakariko. I'm just lazy like that."

"…" Malon reached for a spoon and suddenly it was chucked at my head at an unusually fast speed, hitting me between the eyes and knocking me back. My chair fell backwards and I was on the ground. Epona neighed again.

_KO'd by a wooden spoon. _

"Damn, Malon." I said while I got up. Pulling the chair back into place, I plopped back down in it and turned to the redhead. "Why'd you do that?"

"You made it sound like you only came here for food." Malon's right eye twitched a bit, her arm still outstretched in a throwing position.

"Well, I only bum food off of you because you're cooking is so amazing."

"Now you just sound stupid. Can you at least pretend you like me?"

"I do like you. Believe me. I only bum food off of the people I like." Epona snorted.

_Wow, nice save Mr. Smooth._

"From you, I guess I have to take that as the closest thing to a compliment that I'll ever get." Malon whirled around back to her cooking. "Anyways, aside from the fact that you are one of the most ungrateful and most infuriating people I've ever met, I'll make you food. But will you tell me you're adventure during dinner?"

"Sure, the least I can do, right?"

Suddenly, an awkward silence took over the room. This was very odd, because usually, our time together was filled with talking, eating, and having random objects thrown at my head. I looked at the redhead as she quietly worked over her cooking. Something was bugging her, I could tell, but what? Stuff usually never bugged her. Maybe I could pry it out of her later…

"There! Food's done. You're favorite, cucco meat that I seasoned especially for you. And potatoes." Malon brought two plates over to the table, plopping one down in front of me that had a mound of cucco meat and potatoes on it.

"Think that's enough food there, Link?" Navi looked at the mound of food that was bigger than she was. "You're going to, like, get fat or something."

"Yeah, whatever. This is a hero's proportion, Navi." I said somewhat jokingly. Malon rolled her eyes, Navi's aura blinked in a somewhat annoyed manner, and Epona neighed…again.

_You're just a pig, really._

I began my story without a hitch, starting my epic with my trip back to Zora's Domain and how everything was frozen and how I had to unfreeze the king. I told her about Sheik and his really confusing speech about reflections and water and romance and stuff. After skipping a bunch of stuff, I started breezing through the Water Temple, telling her about my really hard battle fighting a dark copy of myself, all of the weird spike things and clam monsters, and my meeting with Ruto, which she seemed sort of annoyed with. After ranting about how annoying I think Zelda's Lullaby is and about how I'll never set foot in the Water Temple for the rest of my life, I finally got to my battle with the tentacle thing. I over exaggerated a bunch of things in the battle, like the number of times I was flung across the room like discarded trash and how many times the spikes on the wall nearly killed me. I made a point to tell her that the pink healing fairies saved me multiple times before I got my magnificent victory, exaggerating that as well.

"I don't know how much of that was actually true, but it was an entertaining, nonetheless." Malon giggled, pushing some strands of hair behind her ear. She stood up and began scraping and cleaning the plates. The silence came again.

"Malon?" I asked half-wearily. I was never that good at psychoanalyzing people. "Is there…something wrong?"

"……." Malon stopped scrubbing the plate, her hands still in the water.

"Really, there's something off." I said. "You usually throw way more objects at me during a visit." Epona neighed.

_That's one way to tell something's wrong, I guess…_

"Link, can I ask you a question?" Malon said, reaching for a towel to dry her hands with. She leaned on the edge of one of the counters, her eyes downcast to the floor.

"Um, sure…Shoot." I said, leaning back in my chair.

"There's one thing you've never told me about you're journey. There's some…things I think you've…never bothered telling me that I really want to know." She started.

"Well, I guess there might be some details I never got to, but…" I looked up.

"You have to find these Sages and then defeat Ganondorf, right?" Malon asked and turned to me .I nodded and she continued. "And you need to find Her Majesty, but what happens after?"

"After?" I hadn't really thought of that. I knew for sure that the Sages would lock Ganondorf away in the dark realm, but I never thought of what Zelda would do after it was all over. I was going on the wild assumption that time was screwed up. Perhaps she'd fix that first?

"Well, this is only a wild guess, but we're going to seal Ganondorf away and then…well, Zelda might just fix time." I tapped my chin thoughtfully. "Well…That seems like the most logical thing to do."

"Oh." Malon was mindlessly fiddling with the towel. "If she fixed time, that means that none of this would have ever happened. Would you even be considered the Hero of Time?"

"Well, it would probably mean no one would remember any of that even happened. Zelda, the Sages, and I would know what happened, but no one else would, really. Everyone would just go on living their lives."

"…" Malon stopped fiddling with the towel. "Only you, the Sages, and Her Majesty would remember?"

"…" I nodded, not quite getting where she was going at.

"I only met you because you came to the palace to find Zelda. I guess that means I only met you because you became the hero." A weak smile came onto Malon's face as she looked down at the floor. "I was thinking about that earlier, that's all. I just wanted to confirm something. I guess you just answered all of my questions. Time really would…how do I word this? Supposedly correct itself right?"

I was silent for a moment, listening to her words. _"…I guess you just answered all of my questions. Time really would…how would I word this? Supposedly correct itself right?" _I looked back up at Malon, and I saw that she was still staring at the ground, her weak smile fading.

"You know…if time corrects itself, does that mean we weren't supposed to be friends, Link?" Malon didn't even look at me.

With a burst of intuition, I suddenly understood what she was saying. The realization hit me at full force, like I was getting slapped in the face. I just stared at her, staring at her blue eyes close as she put the towel calmly back on the counter behind her. Navi was silent, and from the corner of my eye, I saw her retreat over to Epona, who had stopped all her neighing, thank Nayru.

"Mal…I mean…" I was at a loss for words. "Don't take it like that!"

"Well, how can I not take it like that?" Malon crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself, almost. "I'm just a normal citizen, Link. I'm not special. I'm not a Sage or a Princess or a Hero. I'm just…me. I can't be anything more than that."

"I like you like that, though!" I protested. "I like having one normal person in my life. Everyone else I meet turns out to be some catalyst in saving Hyrule. I just want a friend who isn't like that. I just want…normality."

"…" Malon was silent, and she shut her eyes again. "Link? If Her Majesty does correct time like you say she will, then I will, for sure, not remember you? Will it be like these seven years never happened?"

"I'm…assuming." My voice was quiet, almost a whisper. What could I say to make this moment any…lighter? There wasn't anything.

_ "…I guess you just answered all of my questions. Time really would…how would I word this? Supposedly correct itself right?" _Those words just kept playing over and over in my mind. How could that be correcting time? I don't want Malon to forget me. But it would so awkward. Malon wouldn't know who I am or what had been done. It wouldn't be the same to just walk back up to her one day and say "Hey, let's be friends!" when I would already know so much more than her. How could we just restart like that?

I didn't understand my feelings or understand why any of this was happening in the first place. I only knew that I had to save the land. I understood my duty, but I didn't want to understand why I had to do that. I only wanted normality. I only wanted a normal life. Part of my thought Malon was lucky. I wish I could have been one of those normal people, blissfully unaware that anything was changing or that, at any moment, my memories could be wiped clean and I would be forced back to another time.

Though, it was more painful for Malon, thinking this over. Malon was, until some time ago, one of those "normal people". She was only a farm girl, going about her duties. Now, she was someone in between, I suppose. She was normal, destined to _be_ normal, but she knew more than other people. She was aware that she would be wiped clean, that she would be thrust back and forced to relive a time in her life. She knew that she was losing something important to her. I almost felt bad for telling her anything about my journeys. Perhaps, she would have been better off not knowing of what was to come. Was she better off reliving her life and not knowing who I am?

"Maybe I'm over thinking this." Malon said, her eyes fixed on the ground. "But I can't help but think that we meeting might have been a mistake. Maybe I'm supposed to not know you."

"Oh…stop!" I snapped, my fist slamming down on the table before I could stop it. "I won't sit here and listen to that. I don't want to think that us never meeting is correcting something. That's just damned insane!!"

"…Link?" Malon walked over to the table, placing a hand over mine. "Is there…really way to tell?"

"Tell what?" I looked up, my anger slowly going away. "Dammit, Malon, don't tell me you want this to happen?"

"Well, I don't want it to happen, Link." Malon looked sad. "But I don't want you to falter in your journey for my sake."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want you stopping anything because you want to keep your friendship with me. You're a hero, right? Maybe this is just a sacrifice you have to make. It's nothing compared to some of the other things that'll happen, right?"

"Dammit, Mal." I cursed. "Don't talk so idly about that! Do you think I've been coming here and spending time with you because I was trying to make you feel better or something?"

"…" Malon's eyes were wide for a moment, but they clouded over a bit.

"Mal, I just…I don't know what I want." I took a deep breath. "I don't think I know anything anymore. All I know is that I don't want you to sit here and tell me that our friendship is worth sacrificing. It's not. But…"

"You have no choice." Malon finished my statement. "I understand, Link."

"I already promised so many people that I would…do this. But I don't like that I have so many personal sacrifices."

"Right. Don't worry about me, Link. I'll be perfectly fine. Just…move on, okay?"

"Move on?" I inquired.

"Move on." Malon stood up and removed her hand from on top of mine. It strayed to my shoulder. "Listen, you shouldn't just stick around here. You should probably go back to doing what you were supposed to do."

"Oh, yeah…"

I stood and grabbed my pack, removing the smelly contents and throwing it out into the trash can. Swinging it back around my shoulder and walked to the door, outside, and there, another silence filled the air, a very…uncomfortable silence.

"Link?" Malon asked, her voice light, almost bell-like. "Can I ask you one more question?"

"What?" I turned.

"If I forget you, you won't forget me right? Remember Epona's song…you can use her…call her, whenever you like." Malon smiled.

"Well, she is the coolest horse ever." I smirked, trying to lighten the moment. Epona neighed.

_Trying too hard, bucko. _

"Believe me, Mal." I turned. "I won't forget anything. I won't forget the cheesy romance novel you chucked at me, the scare you gave me from the pitchfork you threw at my arm, the awesome cooking, or the fact that I got a good look down your shirt a minute ago."

"…" Malon froze, a light pink covering her face. Before I could retaliate, Malon had picked up the nearest object, a rock on the ground, and thrown it at me. It knocked me down flat on my back. "Pervert! I have a serious moment with you, the only one I think I've _ever_ had with you, and you come back telling me you're looking down my shirt. How rude!!"

"Well, I had to do something to lighten the moment. I was too pissed." I said, sitting and rubbing my head.

"You looked down my shirt to make yourself feel better?" Malon's face was more like an angry, "I'm going to rip your face off" red. "Jeez, how did the Goddesses ever choose such an inconsiderate, ungrateful, perverted, sarcastic, stupid jerk as our savior?!" Malon threw another rock at me, and now I as holding my hands over my head, avoiding the barrage.

"Ow, ow, I get it…Ow! Jeez, well sorry that I'm a guy. It comes naturally." I protested. Epona neighed.

_Not really helping your situation at all. _

"Link!" Navi chimed. "Okay, whatever, quit making comments about Malon's bust line and let's get moving!"

"I said I looked down her shirt. That's _all_ I said. I made one comment." I explained, hopping onto Epona.

"That's all you needed to say to make you a total pervert, Link." Navi explained. "Wow, I'm a fairy and I know that." Epona neighed.

_Wow, you're such a guy._

"Be careful, Link. My door's always opened. And don't you dare take that in the wrong context!!" Malon growled.

"Of course not." I waved my hand over my shoulder, turning around a bit and getting one final eye contact with the farm girl.

Riding out of the ranch, my mind wandered a bit. I was happy that we ended all of that on a light note, but that still didn't escape the fact that all of this could be forgotten, like it never happened. Maybe I was just supposed to enjoy this while it lasted, enjoy my time and be grateful I remembered it.

But that honestly didn't seem like enough for me, it really didn't.

**A/n:** Like I said in the opening note, this really just wrote itself, but it takes a few turns in terms of mood. Oh well, I don't feel this is as good as my previous one-shot, but whatever. I figured it was humorous enough.

Please review? Please?


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